06 Dec How to Generate Sales as a Startup Company
Most startup companies and entrepreneurs are not necessarily the best sales people. Trying to figure out how to generate sales for your startup company can create many sleepless nights. This article is designed to walk you through a process of selling your startup’s product or services to potential customers.
A major difference exists between impulse purchases such as shoes and a cup of coffee, verses informed purchases such as home buying and software purchases. This article is focused on generating sales where the customer is making an informed buying decision. Therefore, we will use a customer relationship management methodology to engage, inform, and secure new customers for your startup company.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Process & Sales Funnel Goals
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CRM Process Stages
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Sales Funnel Goals
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Suspect
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Bring Awareness
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Prospect
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Develop Interest
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Qualified Lead
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Consideration
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Opportunity
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Interest and Evaluation
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Client/Customer
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Purchase
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Feedback Loop & Continuous Communication
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Post Purchase
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Step 1: Create a List of Suspects
The first step is you want to develop a manageable list. A list that can and should grow over time. Depending on the nature of your business, the size of the initial list will vary. Some organizations need 5-10 relationships a year, while others need much larger volume like 100s or 1,000s of relationships a year. But, an average of 100-200 suspects is typically a good # to start with for most situations. When making a list of suspects, make sure you qualify them first. How do you qualify your list of suspects? Have set criteria for who makes the list, and who doesn’t. Typically, the more disciplined you can be with your criteria the better qualified your suspects will be. In turn, the more qualified your suspects are, the more likely you will experience better results in identifying good prospects. Your criteria should include information such as demographic, geographic, buying habits, interest and preferences, and other information to help define your target audience.
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Example Target Criteria
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Product or Service:
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New Juice Machine
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Role:
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Health Food Store Owner or Chain Manager
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Geography:
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West Coast of United States
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Age:
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22-55
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Gender:
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Male and Female
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Primary Target Audience :
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Health Conscious People
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Attribute & Preference:
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Frequently Goes to the Gym
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Attribute & Preference:
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Shops at Whole Foods Supermarket
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Attribute & Preference:
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Prefers Organic Food
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Attribute & Preference:
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Reads Health Related Materials and Websites
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Total Target Audience Size:
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5,500
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Step 2: Prioritize Your List from Largest to Smallest Potential Opportunities
Group the list into A, B, and C based on the size of the opportunity. Group A being your largest opportunities, and C being your smallest opportunities.
Step 3: Create Communication Templates to Transition Suspects into Customers
Instead of just winging it, plan out your communication so that you can identify what works and doesn’t work. More importantly, so that you can train and replicate your companies communication methodology with new hires. Undocumented and unplanned communication can not be transferred to others which will greatly limit the potential growth of your sales.
For Example:
- Put 1-2 sentences about you and your organization.
- Let them know things are coming down the pipe such as the launch of your app. and/or a website.
- Let them know you want ____________________ [ABC Organization] to be involved.
- Key: Focus on asking for feedback. Ask good questions about their organization, their needs and pain points, their past experience with companies like yours.
- When attempting to establish a phone or in-person meeting, makes sure to provide a compelling enough reason to meet besides seeking the ability to offer your product or service.
- Make sure to always include information with your communication such as your website, social media accounts, phone #, etc.
- Personalize the email communication as much as possible so it does not look nor feel generic. It shouldn’t be! Add language such as, “I love what you and ABC Company is doing by helping to educate children in Chicago.”
Hint: Always have a specific goals for your communication. Where do you want to take the relationship next? Ask the person to take small steps with you before taking big steps.
Step 4: Test your Communication by Sending to Group C First.
You don’t want to test your communication on your biggest opportunities, but your smallest opportunities first. You want to gather data and experience before reaching out to those that can have the greatest impact on your organization
Step 5: Tweak Your Message
Determine what is working and what is not working. What part of your communication are people most interested in? What are they responding to that is in your correspondence? Look to focus and expand on the issue or part of the communication that sparks the greatest interest. For example, consider reordering the structure of an email and place the content that seems to spur on the most interest. Or, emphasize the most important parts of your communication by using formatting techniques such as bolding text or creating titles to draw attention.
Step 6: Move Up the List
As you gain experience and understand what is working and not working with your communication, move up the list into the B and A members. Note: Those that respond to your initial communication become classified as prospects.
Step 7: Develop a Continuous Feedback Loop
Ask those you previously contacted that have responded to your communication to provide direct feedback on what they felt worked and didn’t work well with your communication method. Also, remember customers are the best referral source so treat them exceptionally well and ask for referrals.
Conclusion:
It typically takes 7-10 touches before getting someone to consider doing business with your startup company. Your initial communication is not to make something big happen. It is the starting point for building a relationship. It is just a knock on the door letting someone know you are in the world, and ask for a response to confirm they heard you knock. Based on their response or non-responsiveness, be prepared with a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,… wave of communication to members of your qualified list. The best software to use for managing such a sales process is Salesforce.com.
Zynergy helps clients implement the sales methodologies discussed in this article and the necessary Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solution needed to build a sales team.
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